UNLIMITED SPEED

Within the L-shaped building somewhere on its floor, Ariana stood before a certain room, her figure being dwarfed by that of a white-haired man.

The air was tense and it seemed to trouble the entire building. Although some were within their rooms, many of them peeked with their consciousness.

"Do you really want that? There are people eavesdropping," Ariana pointed out, sending glares at seemingly random positions.

Noah made no response, but simply unfolded his consciousness. And due to him being stronger, he could create a safe spot where no mental waves weaker than his could enter.

They would have to reveal themselves to hear whatever was going on.

Needless to say, the event startled the listening experts who found a spot where their mental waves couldn't touch. It directly crumbled, leaving a black spot when they unfolded it in its entirety.

Everyone was interested in the return of the white-haired man, Aiden. Who had been spectacular in his doings.

"There. They will have to come out to hear whatever you say," Noah revealed. Although he didn't want to entertain her, he would still respect her privacy.

Ariana confirmed and was a bit surprised, but her expression turned serious and she opened her mouth to speak.

"I came to apologize for my behavior after my confession. It was childish of me," she started; her eyes unable to stare at his.

"I thought about it and even had someone speak to me about it and truly I shouldn't have suddenly distanced myself. And for that I'm sorry."

"I had long since made the resolve to tell you this, but you stopped showing up to the guild hall or our rooms. I even thought you had died. But your occasional appearance proved that idea wrong. It's only today I managed to get a hold of you," she explained, finally raising her head to see Noah's expression.

It was blank, as though he had not heard her words. She expected that.

"I've also come to say my feelings for you still exist. But I understand if you don't feel the same," she nodded with a sad smile.

Noah remained silent. At least he only did so so he could properly articulate his thoughts. Her last sentence had come as a mild surprise. He expected that her feelings for him would have ended. They barely saw each other after all.

Truth be told, Noah felt tempted to respond with harsh words. But she had not necessarily done anything wrong to him. At least at some point, he became indifferent. Had he cared deep enough, then maybe he would have been hurt, but he had not been.

In short, Noah lacked any evidence to act as a drive for harshness. He didn't want to pretend since he didn't think such mattered.

"Okay," he replied.

"If that's all, then you can leave," his tone was emotionless and his words distant. They cut Ariana deep, but she retained her strong expression. Nodding at him.

"Thanks for hearing me out," she forced a smile biting her tongue after she voiced her words.

Noah nodded and shut the door on her.

Ariana returned to her room, and for the first time in a long while. Wept.

Noah carried on with his life. Although he felt his words quite cold even to himself, he considered it a requirement.

He had lost whatever spark of emotions their interaction had produced months earlier. He didn't want to deal with the trouble of making her think she had a chance with him, because she didn't.

Noah could almost feel sadness in the air, but he pushed it away, his time to leave was near, he didn't know how it would happen, but he believed it would be quick.

He silently sat in his room waiting for the countdown to end.

And it did.

Noah watched the silver scroll light up with a glorious silver radiance, before breaking into different masses of runes and shining lines.

He watched his room get bathed with the silver radiance and felt pain reach his mind. Noah watched the back of his palm light up with the rune that had entered it when he first opened the scroll. He saw that the different symbols and inscriptions were creating a magical circle.

The rune in his hand bore witness to his presence so when the tier 5 magical circle was completed it washed over him and he disappeared from the room.

He would not return there for a long, long time.

The fabric of space seemed to bend and twist, Noah found himself in a well of multicolored lights, but it was only an illusion.

Things stabilized and he opened his eyes in a carriage.

His arrival brought about a bright flash of light and so did the others.

Noah felt a headache try to rise in his head due to the illusion of speeding lights, but his healing resolved it and he was quickly okay.

His gaze fell on Madison and the other individual who had won, but they were both unconscious.

He noticed that Madison had reached the higher stage, but unlike him who stood at its peak, she had been affected by the teleportation and would probably remain unconscious for a while.

Noah stood with a grunt, ignoring the luxurious nature of the carriage to open the door and step out.

He had been drawn out as a result of the loud sounds that existed on the outside, and what his eyes fell on truly fit the sound.

His gaze fell on a wide green prairie and tens of carriages existed around his. The emissary was large, and the carriages were all attached to tier-4 beasts.

He could see from that height, that many individuals donned in silvery-white attires were running about following orders.

They were getting ready for take-off.

The silver carriages on the many beasts shone with beautiful lights. Noah thought he was in heaven since he had always imagined its color to be like that.

The bird-like beast his carriage sat on moved when he stepped out. A ladder existed before him to allow him to go down, but he wouldn't.

"What a surprise. One of you actually managed to withstand the teleportation!" A man's voice reached Noah's ears, and he raised his head to glance at the person.

The man's figure was blinding due to the sun's intense light bouncing off his silvery robe. In truth, he looked like an angel.